Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Day 28: Vampira, Queen of the Night (or, sleep disorder...)

Talkin' 'bout (and singin' 'bout) messed up sleep patterns, and trying to change them.
http://youtu.be/At9FhLO_6p0




Carla
http://www.thesingingpatient.com

Day 27: wore myself out, still working on sleep schedule

Day 27!
Pretty much a textbook day on the plan. Did have about seven or eight corn chips with my delicious "salad with smoked salmon on top" dinner but otherwise totally on plan.

Funny how much saltier salty things taste after you get used to not having them. Same with sweet stuff.
my stevia-sweetened dark chocolate arrived today in the mail. It's quite tasty.

Started the day with my most excellent songwriting student. Always a pleasure. Then dove into phone calls, emails, other online stuff.

Walked the dog. The official beginning of dog sweater season! (Don't laugh – my dog has thin fur and she's only 6 pounds.)

Spent some time sorting my lyrics-in -progress/ completed songs.

Then the dreaded "booking a plane ticket and rental car online" process. that just takes too much energy.

An hour-long conference call that was actually just a monologue. An hour-long lecture. My ADD was screaming!!!

Late dinner, chat with Joe. Next thing you know it's midnight and I tried to work on a lyric for tonight's vlog but I'm so tired I just can't even think straight. I never really took a break all day. Must do a better job of pacing myself!

So ... looks like I'm going to bed at a reasonable hour. Don't bother telling anyone – they either won't believe it or they'll think I'm deathly ill. Which I'm not. Thankfully.

Hopefully I will make a vlog (with song) tomorrow!


Carla
http://www.thesingingpatient.com

Days 25 and 26: a gig day, another long Sunday nap

Days 25 & 26
Catching up on posts!
Forgot to post this here on the actual days. I posted it on facebook at the time.

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Day 25 was a gig day. Fun house concert in glenside,pa.
Tried out a bunch of new tunes.
Also a teaching days. Had 2.5 hours teaching early in the day.

Did not sleep well because I didn't think my discomfort required any pills. Wrong call! Woke up tired.

Had to take an Advil in the afternoon. Not sure why the shoulders are irritated, but they've been doing more of that lately and that's disappointing. Still better than before I started the plan but I was enjoying being free from it altogether!

Then had an e-shot (caffeine, vitamins) to fuel me through the show, plus a tasty salad at ken and donnas. Stayed totally on the plan!

Got back late, after 1am. In bed late, after more Advil. 

 
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Day 25
 

Weighed myself : steady at 3.5 pounds gone so far.
Measured self: 2.75 inches off upper thighs! 

The rest of me has not changed much in measurements. 
Fortunately it's shrinking where I had the most flab to spare!

Another couple inches and maybe I'll post some before/ after pics.

Taught 1.5 hours and then took a 4- hour nap. Seems to be becoming a Sunday routine. Get up early 2-3 days in a row, crash Sunday afternoon.

Got up at 5:30pm, went to NYC w Joe for lovely dinner with classmate from college- great food, great company! Reminiscing about the old days as music majors at Brevard college.

I went off the plan just a bit- had some dessert :0
Shared with Joe. (Flourless chocolate cake). Yum. Ok, back to the plan tomorrow!

And hopefully back to the vlog, with songs, now that I'm done rehearsing for this past gig.


Carla
http://www.thesingingpatient.com

Day 23: Out-of-her-mind patient seeks out-of-the-box dr; saw myself on tv

Day 23

in the interest of working on my sleep pattern I am going to bed at 3am instead of writing a song and making a vlog.

Stuck to the plan quite nicely today. 2 shakes, several craving-curbing wafers, and 2 delish adzuki bean burgers. Yummy!!! (That originally posted as "asexual bean burgers. Thanks, Siri! You're so creative... Sex, sex, sex, that's all you *never* think about!)

I realized I'd been eating a few too many regular (grocery store bought) chocolates, which technically are not on the plan. I believe the chocolates that are on the plan are lower sugar. I think this whole plan is very low sugar and that's part of the detox – quitting sugar.

So I ordered some stevia-sweetened chocolate online and will be searching for other natural methods of getting more dopamine circulating in my system (exercise, perhaps...).

Made a couple calls today. One to a functional medicine doctor in Hackensack who is covered by my insurance. And another to a homeopath who is closer by but is not covered by my insurance.

I really like the way the homeopath thinks. we are totally on the same page. However he is $1200 a month and… He is $1200 a month. I think that's all I need to say. Jeepers.

I need to be monitored by a doc but I want one who thinks outside the Rx bottle.

A little October sunbathing, the phone calls, the emails and some rehearsing for Saturday's show. Then 1-hr drive to acting class and back. It's actually quite a challenge for me to remember all the lyrics to my own songs.

Oh and enjoyed finally seeing myself in episode 4 of the TV show "forever." (I was an extra).

I can't believe we did 2 x 10-hour shoots and I think they used about 15 seconds of the extras one shoot, and 4 seconds of the extras in another scene. And I'm talking about 70-80 people (background actors) meticulously dressed up and made up, hair and all, for each of those shoots. Very high-production show.


I'm short, so I'm peering around the guy to look at the speaker, but it looks like I'm photo bombing! :D

toasting the ice queen
my tv hubby and i admire the art we donated to the museum.


I now only do "extra" work on shows that I'm really interested in, because the hours are so long. It takes the entire day (or night), and it's exhausting. The folks I see on set who do this kind of work regularly are constantly taking naps whenever we're sent back to "holding." Have to choose where to expend my energy, and the extra thing is just for fun. When the exhaustion thing outweighs the fun, time to say no.

Right now I am doing no extra work at all, as health is #1.

See you on the next post!
The journey continues.

Carla
http://www.thesingingpatient.com

Day 22: why you should keep copies of your medical records yourself

Hi all today's going to be a written account instead of a vlog.

Did you know that doctors and hospitals routinely purge their medical records every seven years? Yes if you want all of your medical records you need to keep them yourself.

My current rheumatologist wanted copies of the results from my two previous kidney biopsies. (I have them because I request and keep copies of all of my medical records.)

Those results are from 1994 and 2002, so they would not be in any system any longer. I'm glad I took the time in 2002 to go back to all of my old doctors and request all my records. I didn't get everything, but I got most of it.

As I was making copies for him today, I realized I never requested my medical records from my hospital stay in 2006. It is now 8 years later. I called, and to my relief, the person who answered said they should still be in the system. So I filled out some paperwork and mailed it in. Here's hoping.


Word to the wise: if you want your medical records, request copies (before 7 years passes). You have a right to your own records. They can charge you up to $2 a page, but they do belong to you.

Had a guitar student, walked our dog with joe, beat back the daily barrage of emails, spent a couple hours rehearsing for Saturday's show. Really looking forward to that house concert. And I stuck to the plan- including a super healthy dinner (huge green salad with smoked salmon).

I'm now trying to fix my sleep schedule. I actually felt rested today when I got up! I can't remember the last time I felt actually rested when I woke up.

No nap needed today.

Had a dip in energy at one point but not the kind of dip that requires sleep.

I am going to try to be in bed and hopefully asleep by 4 AM. That sounds like a ridiculously late time but I'm often up until 5am.

I did have a minor recurrence of my shoulder issues today, so I had to take an Advil this evening. A bit of a disappointment, but I'll just call it a bump in the road. two days out of 22 and I've only needed one Advil each time. That's a major improvement over where I was before.

And now my dear friends I'm off to get flat. Here's to a good restful sleep for each of us, and to waking rested and refreshed!

(I know I'm not funny tonight. Must be the Advil)



http://www.thesingingpatient.com

Day 24: Another good day!

Day 24: Another good day!
Ok, for you couple of persistent YouTube requesters, here's your fart!
Sorta. http://youtu.be/WESvPPE1hw4